Fauna

Without harking back nostalgically to the situation which existed in the Umbria-Marche Apennines up to a few decades ago, let us examine the prevalence and variety of wild animals to be found in the Park today. The only survivors have been those creatures which are naturally most adaptable and least disturbed by the presence of people and cars. Badgers, porcupines, beech-martens, weasels and foxes are still common. Living within the woods are many squirrels (generally black in colour), dormice, garden dormice, field-mice, pine-voles and shrews.

The tree-tops resound with the calls of chaffinches, tits, wrens, green woodpeckers, cuckoos and hoopoes; and the shrill cry of the jay, the sentinel of the forest, warns the whole community of impending danger. The migrants of the woodlands, such as woodpigeons and woodcocks, come to visit, and sometimes the former build their nests here. Tawny owls, little owls, barn owls and long-eared owls are fairly common. Hares, common voles and moles can be found in all areas. Other bird species include skylarks, tree pipits, “cilbanchi” birds, pied wagtails, Radde’s accentors, redstarts and black redstarts. The open spaces, and especially the banks of the streams and rivers, are home to reptiles such as coluber snakes (which can reach more than 2 metres in length), whip snakes, adders and grass snakes (huge but harmless reptiles often mistaken for “giant vipers”). The oxygenated waters of the fast-flowing torrents are the domain of brown trout and fresh-water crayfish. Along the banks of these streams, one can often hear the sweet song of Cetti’s warbler, occasionally accompanied by the sharp calls of the dipper or the kingfisher, performing their incredible diving routines. The small, native wild boar has all but disappeared now, supplanted by the larger and more destructive wild pig. On the highest slopes of the Apennines, remarkably, one can still see the darting flight of flocks of partridges. In the springtime, crag martins build their nests on the rocky cliffs and the wall-creeper works away incessantly to find snails and insects.

Overhead can be seen flights of choughs, often accompanied by jackdaws and hooded crows; while the calm is shattered by the calls of buzzards, kestrels, sparrow hawks, peregrine falcons and kites. In this environment, even though the situation is anything but desperate, there does seem to be something basic missing. Is it true that some of the rarest species, which seemed to be heading for extinction, can still be found in the Park? Or is their continuing presence there pure fantasy? In fact it does appear, based on reports of repeated sightings and on a variety of collated evidence, that certain of these species do still inhabit the park. Golden eagles, wolves, martens, wild cats and eagle owls have all been sighted, and one can sometimes hope to see the playful otter in the cold waters of the Sentino and the Rio Freddo. There are not many examples of these creatures left, and they remain highly endangered, but for now we can still occasionally observe the majestic flight of the eagle above the crags of Catria and Cucco, find the unmistakable footprints of wolves in the Valle delle Prigioni, or come upon a litter of the beautiful, elegant pine-marten in the scrubland of the Valdorbia. Or we may have the good fortune to sight eagle owls or wild cats in the woods of the Fida. Some examples of fallow deer, red deer and roe deer have been seen in the Park.

But their presence in the wild is solely due to their escape from captive breeding centres in Montelago, Catria and Nocera. Some attention should be given to the cave-dwelling fauna, which inhabit so abundantly the many grottoes of the Park. Above all, we should mention the bats: both the vesper and horseshoe varieties, who are the true lords of the night, and also the very rare Italian cave salamander (geotriton). Then there are the extraordinary caddis flies (trichoptera), which reproduce in the grottoes but subsequently go to live in the waters of the Rio Freddo and the Rio delle Prigioni until it is time to emerge from their cocoons and fly back again to the grottoes.

The underground lakes and water-courses are populated by a myriad of microscopic creatures, such as the miniscule transparent prawns (niphargus) which wiggle around in the cold, crystal-clear waters of the caves. The soil and guano of the grottoes are also filled with a multitude of tiny creatures, most of them blind: they are generally transparent and characteristically have long legs and antennae.

With a climate as already described and the heavy rainfall it experiences, Monte Cucco Park could not possibly avoid being extremely green and lush. Indeed, the Park is covered with meadows and woods,...

The Grotto of Monte Cucco, with over 30 kilometres of galleries and a maximum depth of over 900 metres, is one of the most important subterranean cave systems in Europe and certainly one the best-known...

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